What’s in my backpack?

All travelers has their own style of backpacking. Its very important to have your own. As a solo traveler, i always practice to travel light no matter how long the duration is. Here, I’ll share what are the basic needs that I bring almost everywhere of my backpacking trips and tips to travel light.

I usually travel with my 55L backpack by Royal Mountain regardless of he duration of travel. I have gone up from a week to a month of travel with this backpack. The amount of space this backpack had provided me has been sufficient to cater to my backpacking needs while I’m on my journey.

Nothing fancy, a cheap, good backpack that is comfy with sufficient compartments and also comes with:

1.Air Comfort ( Doesn’t trap heat at your back )

2. Rain Cover

I feel that it is very important to travel light as a solo traveler. It makes things so much convenient. After all, its not about the worth of the back pack. It’s about how you utilize it to your benefit. Pick a backpack that suites your style of backpacking. Always keep your backpack compact to lighten the weight.

Pad Locks: are very useful when you are sleeping at dorms. Some hostel do not provide you with locks to secure your belongings. Therefore, its good to have one or two with you.

Compass: something I’ve used to guide me for navigation purposes. This roughly guides me to the direction i’m going. Good to have one as a last resort.

Dummy Wallet : Duplicate your wallet, make them both look real.Throw in a little foreign cash, some form of your ID and some dummy credit cards into the dummy wallet. Remember to also separate the remaining foreign currency in different parts of you backpack.

Travel Pouch : when you walk around freely, hide some backup cash and credit card in your travel pouch. At least you will have some backup when something goes wrong.

I don’t practice to carry fancy/bulky cameras, DSLR and etc.I rely on my phone heavily. For photography, i like to keep it simple. Furthermore, you don’t have to worry about anything else. Just a good phone or a gopro is all you need. If you find it boring, add gadgets to enhanced your ability to take photos with your phone. I feel as a solo traveler, i feel that its much more convenient to avoid bulky and fancy stuffs.

Lonely Planet Book : Something to read on, at night to decide on your agenda

Ocean Pack : Act as a day pack for your activity and also reliable bag to keep your belongings dry all the time.

Toiletries with toiletry bag: Makes showering more efficient and convenient.

Notebook & Pen: its good to practice journaling during your travels so you could reflect back every great time you had before.

Medication (optional) : Paracetamol, etc. You will never know when you’ll get sick. Its good to have medication on standby.

Ziploc: Separating the dirty clothes for laundry and also keep your clothes from getting wet as storing them in air tight can prevent that.

Shades : Why must I even explain that?

Photocopy of Passport and ID: Its good to have as a backup so that you could report to the embassy in case you lost any of these.

BASIC CLOTHING NEEDS

Flip Flops

Sleeping Bag : Good to have as you could sleep in airports, bus stations, train stations while waiting.

Outerwear,Beanie, Gloves : When you are ascending to the mountains or experiencing winter.

Raincoat

2 Tank Tops

2 Tops

2 Shorts

1 Boardshorts

1 Harem Pants : Useful as it is easy to wear,comfy and keep mosquito bites away.

1 Set of Active Wear (top&bottom)

*Try to roll all your clothes as it consumes space that can be vital for long term backpacking.

*Buy more clothes if you have insufficient.

*Arrange your lightest stuffs from the bottom and the heaviest at the most top. This is to make sure that the load is against your shoulder, not your back else you will hurt your back real bad.

WEARING

1 Top

1 Cardigan

1 Long Pants

1 Trainers

Hat (optional)

Remember to always wear you heaviest clothing when you are departing. It saves space and reduce the weight on your shoulder.

This is what my backpack consist of, and tips i could offer to you after my experiences during my solo travels although some prefer another style of backpacking.My style is: Travel light,Travel simple and just be yourself.